John Rice Carter: “First of all, I want to thank you and the Appropriations Committee for its hard work on bringing this important…”

“First of all, I want to thank you and the Appropriations Committee for its hard work on bringing this important legislation to the floor. As you know, we have been working with your staff on an issue of great importance to the Port of Savannah, which services 40 percent of American consumers. Since 1940, the National Park Service has leased a small parcel of land on Cockspur Island within the Fort Pulaski National Monument to the Savannah Bar Pilots. The bar pilots help navigate large ships through the Savannah River channel to the port and have done so from Cockspur Island since as far as back as the 1730s. In 2011, at the request of the Park Service, Congress passed legislation to change the relationship between the bar pilots and the Park Service. With enactment of the Fort Pulaski National Monument Lease Authorization Act, Public Law 112-69, the relationship between the bar pilots and Park Service was shifted from a series of special use permits to a noncompete lease of up to 10 years. {time} 1330 At the time of consideration of the legislation, the Congressional Budget Office estimated the annual lease fee for the bar pilots would be $25,000, a slight increase from their existing rate based on a 2008 appraisal conducted by the Park Service. It has come to my attention that the Park Service is attempting to use passage of the legislation to increase the lease fee by as much as tenfold.…”